Unresolved

Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to GOD and the PEACE of GOD which transcends all understanding will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.   Philippians 4: 6-7 NIV

Unresolved, unfinished, lacking, incomplete.  These are all synonyms of how I feel at times. 

I have spent so much time planning, envisioning and daydreaming about THE DAY that I will finally reach that place of Nirvana.  I will reach this or that particular goal, and I will feel complete.  Life will make sense, all of my struggles will be gone and all my relationships will be how I want them to be.

 I would set a particular goal. I would plan exactly how I was going to get there, and I would dream of the day that I reached that particular goal.  The next day, I would wake up, something would go wrong and mess up my perfect plan and I would throw my hands up.  It didn't go EXACTLY like I wanted it to, so I would give up and forget the whole thing in anger and frustration.

Life is not Perfect.  It does not always go like we plan it to.  In fact, in my experience, it never goes like we plan it.  Life is full of errors, defects, mistakes, and alternate paths.


So what does this have to do with Peace which transcends understanding.  This verse tells me that we can live with unresolved issues in a imperfect world.  I can have peace when the world is full of chaos and when I have unresolved conflicts in my own life.  I have issues that are not resolved.  I do not understand what causes Devan's autism.  I have relationships with loved ones that are not what I want them to be.  When I look at these issues and then examine my abilities to deal with them, I become overwhelmed.  I do not have the resources to handle them all or actually any of them on my own.

God meets us in the Middle.  Where we are lacking, God takes up the slack.  Where we do not understand, God directs our path until we get it.  When we screw up, God offers forgiveness.  Therefore, we CAN have peace which transcends all understanding even though our human nature says otherwise.  We can be OK, even though our lives aren't exactly the way we wish they were.

TIP:  Every few months, take a glance back at where you were then and where you are now.  Do you notice patterns?  Are you moving closer to where you want to be or futher away?  This glance back can often bring some interesting surprises.  You just may be making more progress than you thought you were.